The Brokers and Forwarders Australia (BAFA) 2010 Conference was announced late last year and the feedback received about this exciting new event has been overwhelming. Thanks to all the members, sponsors and presenters for their enthusiastic support of this initiative.

For those of you who might have missed the announcement, the BAFA 2010 Conference is a joint initiative of the Australian Federation of International Forwarders (AFIF) and the Custom Brokers and Forwarders Council of Australia (CBFCA).

The conference is being held at the Hyatt in Coolum, Queensland from the 14 - 16^th October this year, and the committee is made up of representatives of both Associations. The program is currently being developed and we would like to take this opportunity to share some of the ideas, plans and concepts the committee have come up with.

The theme of the conference is 'New Horizons'.

The aim of the program is to increase awareness and an enhanced ability for participants to develop strategies for their businesses, by maximising the future opportunities, challenges and developments which will be showcased and discussed at the conference.

Whether or not a Single Industry Body (SIB) is in place before BAFA2010, this Conference will also provide an opportunity for industry members to consider how industry issues and events can be best managed in the future.

The program is coming together, with full details of speakers being released at the end of May. However, we wanted to keep you up to date with some exciting developments:

• An invitation has been sent to the Prime Minister, inviting Kevin Rudd to open the conference on Friday 15^th October. As expected, he is unable to commit with absolute certainty at this point in time, but his office has said they are considering our invitation and will let us know if he can attend closer to the event! Freight Transport and Infrastructure has been brought to the forefront of debate recently by the Prime Minister, and we hope that by October, it will be a heavily debated issue.
• The ACCC have confirmed their attendance, and we look forward to welcoming Mr Mark Pearson, Executive General Manager, Regulatory Affairs Division.
• The CEO of Air Asia X, Azran Osman-Rani has confirmed his attendance, and we look forward to his presentation in the Airfreight Forum.
• Michael Carmody, CEO of Customs and Border Protection has also confirmed his participation in the program, and will be making a presentation along the theme of 'New Horizons'

We look forward to keeping you up to date as the program develops.

Regards